Morality – An Eye for an Eye…, Part 1/5

‘If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also’. I sincerely hope that the Christians who hear what I am going to say about this phrase will forgive me, for it goes far beyond anything they could ever imagine. Let me assure them, at once, that the future will prove that my interpretation of it is the right one.

Certain moral precepts which were valid in the past are no longer right or useful for the present or the future. Jesus’ words do not mean that we must always be passive in the face of insults and ill-treatment. He was not telling us always to accept and submit to violence and put up with every torment and, in the long run, allow ourselves to be wiped out.

Spiritualists and Initiates are not meant to be oppressed
It is true that this is how these words have often been interpreted, but I shall show you that that is not what he meant. Of course, if one does not possess the light, there is only one solution: to submit passively and allow others to destroy you.

But that is a code of behaviour for the weak and ignorant and it must not last for ever. It has never been decreed that spiritualists, the wise, Initiates and sons of God, should be perpetually oppressed, enslaved, ill-treated and put to death, while idiots and criminals prosper.

Jesus introduced a new moral code – to cultivate the qualities of the heart
At the time of Jesus, people needed to develop certain qualities and virtues which had never been emphasized before that; qualities such as indulgence, forgiveness and mercy. At the time, the code was one of justice, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

The new moral code that Christ introduced was designed to encourage human beings to cultivate the qualities of the heart. Instead of reacting to others with such crude weapons as stones or knives or the sword, they had to learn to respond with nobler, loftier means; with humility, love, patience and magnanimity.

There is a better way – transform and regenerate your enemy
This is what Christ meant. But he was speaking to the men and women of his day and age, and what he said to them is not necessarily valid for the rest of time. He is telling us, now, that there is a better way: ‘When you are the victim of injustice, you must respond with such intelligence, such strength of character, such understanding, light and warmth, that your enemy is completely bowled over, blinded and thunderstruck.

Yes, thunderstruck; that is to say, transformed. Not annihilated, not killed but regenerated. Instead of killing your enemy you give him life by leading him closer to God. If you are capable of doing this, you are a true hero, a true son of God.’